Exxon Mobil: How they created climate change deniers

From an Exxon Mobil-funded scientist comes this definitive statement about the role of the oil giant in fostering climate change deniers: “Exxon’s choices have contributed directly to the situation we are in today, a situation that in many ways seems unreal: one where many elected representatives oppose climate action, while China leads the U.S. in wind energy, solar power, [and] economic investment in clean energy.”

Chief among climate deniers is our own U.S. Congressman, Lamar Smith. He is the chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology committee, which oversees the Environmental Protection Agency, and which has a hand in directing federally funded research into human causes of global warming. He fully supported Trump in his decision to exit the Paris Climate Accords.

Please take a look at these two articles. Then contact Lamar to tell him your personal story of how you’re helping with flood relief and of your opposition to his position on climate change research and remediation. You could also ask him where he’s been. He has made no statement of concern about the impact of Hurricane Harvey on our fellow Texans.

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2 thoughts on “Exxon Mobil: How they created climate change deniers”

Today’s San Antonio Express-News Editorial was all about climate change and Harvey. The paper noted that, ” Texas officials – notably, Greg Abbott, Rep. Lamar Smith and Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn – need to accept the science and follow it with appropriate policy. Ignoring the science, perpetuating false doubt, is to court future disasters.” When I ran against Smith last year, climate change was the center piece of our campaign but unfortunately too many voters ignored my warnings of the dire consequences if we failed to act. I distinctly remember a heated discussion I had in Fredericksburg with a small group of wine growers. They flatly refused to believe anything I was saying about climate change but now with Harvey maybe they will finally start to listen. The question of course is will Abbott or Smith listen. I doubt it.
Since my announcement on July 18th that I was running for Governor, I have once again, repeatedly talked about climate change on the campaign trail. The strangers I have met in the VFW and American Legion Halls, in the bars and restaurants I have stopped off at were still denying climate change up to a week ago. But with a Harvey cleanup and rebuilding cost estimated in be in the $160 billion dollar range I am curious to find out if any minds have been changed. The first real test will come on Sept. 9th when I will be deep in the heart of Texas, in Abilene, at the West Texas State Fair.

The reason I believe that Representative Smith is anti-science, an anti-climate change stem from his aggressive actions against NASA and the EPA. Last year he declared outright war on science with his first ever subpoena of scientists who conducted a study he disagreed with. On March 23rd. he spoke at the International Conference on Climate Change. A conference dedicated to climate change skepticism. Smith boasted about the 25 subpoenas he issued to rousing applause. The conference is funded by nine anti-science and anti-climate change organizations lead by the Heartland Institute. He supports President Trump’s and EPA Administrator Pruitt’s censoring the EPA website to remove information on Climate Change and he supports cutting funding for EPA research into Climate Change. In March he sponsored H.R. 1430 and H.R. 1431. These two bills are backdoor attempts to undermine the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to use science in decision-making and obstruct the process for developing effective public health safeguards.

Now from the far side of weird, extremist anti-LGBTQ pastor Kevin Swanson is joining other radical Religious Right activists in declaring that Hurricane Harvey is God’s judgment on Houston and other cities that refuse to repent for their embrace of “sexual perversion.”